Starlight and Shadows

Chapter 23: A Perfect Day

Why was she here?

Sitting on the marble floor Zeffre considered the question. Normally at this point in a new universe she would be out gathering resources; guns, money, a new ship, stuff like that. The Settled Systems were large enough to where nobody would miss a few pirate bases and a pile of bodies after all.

She leaned back, helmet bouncing off the stone wall of the Sanctum Universum building.

None of those things would really be interesting. Fighting regular humans had long become boring, even when she appointed her own self-imposed challenges to make it more difficult for herself. Zeffre smirked at the memory of her using only swords in one universe, that had made things more entertaining at least.

"Hey. You," Zeffre said, the speakers on her helmet subtly distorting her voice as she spoke at a passing by Universalist, "nice hat."

The human stopped. "Thank you," she said, smiling as she continued on her way.

Zeffre sighed, "Yeah, keep walking," she muttered to herself, watching the human as she walked away.

There wasn't any particular reason she was antagonizing Sanctum members. Then again, there wasn't any particular reason for her to do much of anything really.

The Priest exited his office. He'd done that four times since she had arrived, walking around to talk to the Sanctum members, their conversations full of smiles and laughs. He was pushing a metal cart.

Zeffre watched as he pushed the cart over to her position against the wall, smiling at her as he gently put down a plate and some cups on the floor in front of her before sitting down on the floor opposite her.

"What."

The Priest poured some liquid out of an electric kettle into two cups. "I thought you might be hungry and Sabrina brough in some delicious snickerdoodles that I think you might like."

"Pfft... Are you going senile in your old age? I don't need to eat."

He smiled, taking a bite from one of the cookies. "No, I understand that you don't need to eat, but I find the act in itself to be delightful. Sweets and some nice hot tea to wash it down I find are a pleasant experience to enjoy, especially with others."

Was he serious? "You're probably wondering why I've decided to intrude on your little cult huh," Zeffre asked, smirking under her helmet.

"I don't think I'd agree with your use of the word 'cult', but that would more depend on your definition of cult." The Priest took a sip of his tea, contemplating her obvious jab before shrugging, "Linguistics and interpersonal communication are funny that way aren't they? Two people can say the exact same thing, but depending on the person they could mean two completely different things." He placed down his teacup. "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't answer your question did I?" he smiled. "The Sanctum is open to anyone who would like to enter, and you are no exception."

Zeffre stared at The Priest. This conversation was already starting to get annoying. "I could be here to kill everyone," she said, smiling under her helmet. "It wouldn't even take more than a minute." She leaned forward. "Just imagine the news on SSNN, 'Massacre at the Temple' would be the headline," she said, gesturing with her left hand. "Burnt corpses and a smoldering building being all that remains of the original Sanctum Universum building on New Atlantis." She laughed. "It'd be one hell of a story."

The Priest took another sip from his teacup. "While I agree with you that would definitely make the news..."

Zeffre's eye twitched at his look of contemplation.